Jadeja, Ishant rock Australia

Ravindra Jadeja snared three wickets while Ishant Sharma picked two as Australia wobbled their way through the second day of the third Test in Mohali to finish at 273/7.

R Ashwin and Pragyan Ojha also picked up a wicket apiece as Australia went to stumps, having handed the initiative over to the hosts after an opening stand of 139 runs.

After play was washed off without a ball being bowled on the first day, the gloomy cloud cover gave way to bright sunshine, allowing MS Dhoni and Michael Clarke to walk out for the toss. Australia were prompt to bat once Clarke got the roll of the coin his way and openers David Warner and Ed Cowan justified the skipper's decision with a record 139-run stand, the highest for the first wicket by an Australian pair in India. The previous best also stood with two southpaws, Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer, when they stitched up 136 runs on their tour of 2004 in Chennai.

Bhubneshwar Kumar and Ishant Sharma would have remembered the damage the new ball caused in Hyderabad but the Australians seemed far better prepared. Warner minimised his risk shots while Cowan dropped anchor in characteristic style and the duo went about collecting their runs with great patience. The Indian pace attack was toothless and barring a few odd balls from Sharma, the openers did not seem troubled at all.

R Ashwin was brought into the attack very early in the piece but the most successful bowler in the series so far, met with defiant resistance. Though the off-spinner got the ball to spin and bounce, Warner and Cowan survived a fine spell and even looked assured in their footwork by the time Dhoni had brought on Ravindra Jadeja and Pragyan Ojha, who was replacing Harbhajan Singh.

Ojha, coming back into the Indian team after missing out on two Test matches, looked a little rusty and even strayed in his line. For the two Australian openers, who were well set, that was a bonus. The team had been under immense pressure after the suspension of four players earlier this week and the team-management had made it clear they wanted to see commitment from the rest of their troop. The two left-handed batsmen did not disappoint and paced their path to lunch at 109/0.

However, India came out with more purpose in the second session. While the bowlers looked listless in the morning, they showed better application after lunch. Australia had added 30 more runs to the board before Jadeja struck.

The left-arm spinner removed Warner and then the inform Clarke off consecutive balls. Suddenly, the momentum had started shifting towards India and the Australian camp wore a depressed look. Phil Hughes, who got another chance at redemption, only due to the suspensions and Matthew Wade's injury, walked out to the middle when Cowan and the rest of the side needed him to play a long hand.

However, Hughes' misery against the Indian spinners continued, when he gloved a delivery from Ojha for Dhoni to complete a simple catch. Australia were in dire straits because the rest of the middle-order was either inexperienced or had not played Test cricket for a while.

Steven Smith, who also happened to get a lucky break in the Test match, came out and played a few attacking shots with Cowan grinding the Indian attack. But he could not carry on much longer with the resistance, falling to Ashwin for 86 soon after tea. His patient knock 238 balls and was studded with eight hits to the fence.

Brad Haddin, who replaced Wade in the playing XI, joined forces with Smith and Australia looked like finding their feet again. The duo were not scared of playing their shots against the spinners and even forced a few errors in line from the usually dependent attack. Haddin seemed to be settling down to a long stay at the crease before Ishant Sharma struck twice in the space of thee balls in the 94th over as India took a firm grip of the game.

Haddin, in a rare false move, played away from his body, and played on a delivery from Ishant on to his stumps. Two balls later, Moises Henriques, who had been the best Australian batsman after Clarke, found a peach from the lanky fast bowler too hot to handle, and had his timber disturbed too. Things were looking very bleak for the visitors at 244/6.

Smith, however, was not rattled at all by the fall of wickets at the other end and he brought up his third Test fifty in the next over. Playing his first match of the series, the 23-year-old showed little nerves after India had made great inroads into the Aussie line-up. He played his shots, ran well and was prepared to wait for the loose ball.

But it was too much for one man to do, especially when he had no support at the other end. Peter Siddle was soon sent back by Jadeja, who picked up his third wicket to leave Australia tottering at 251/7.

Mitchell Starc joined Smith in the middle and timed a few nice blows as Australia went to stumps without any further damage - the pair added 22 runs to give the visitors a chance to come back on the third day and add some valuable runs on the board.